Hot off the presses - City Bikes Capital Cup

City Bikes Capital Cup Race Schedule June 23-25, 2006

Friday June 23, 2006 8:00am Gates open!

9:00am Registration opens for all events.

9:30am Lift opens, all courses open for practice.

5:00pm Registration closes for the day.

6:00pm Lift, DH courses closed.

8:00pm Dual course closed.

Saturday June 24, 2006 8:00am Registration opens for all events.

No more vehicles allowed in expo area.

8:30am Lift opens, all courses open for practice.

11:30am Registration closed for YETI Dual.

12:30pm YETI Dual qualifying.

1:00pm Reg. closed for City Bikes Capital Cup.

3:00pm DH race #1 of the City Bikes Capital Cup.

5:30pm Lift closed.

6:00pm YETI Dual Finals. Awards to follow.

Sunday June 25, 2006 8:00am Registration opens (Md. St. Champ. Only).

8:30am Lift opens, all courses open for practice.

10:30am Registration closed.

1:00pm City Bikes Capital Cup DH Race #2/ Maryland State Championship.

4:00pm Lift Closed

4:30pm Awards Ceremony.

Big Bear and MORE

MattyD from the City Bikes Team has slotted me in as his fourth for 24hrs of Big Bear. I haven't raced a 24 since before I was married. It was the 1999 24hrs of Canaan, the last year of Canaan. It was dry and fast and fun. It usually rains so I'll prepare for that. Usually, the worse the conditions, the better I do. With a 12 mile lap, it's just the right size for doubling-up on laps for me as well. We'll see how the strategy plays out in the coming days.

I've been teaching mtn bike-related classes for MORE members the last couple of months. We started with the building of the Sworks Carbon bike for me and we spent the last session on bike setup, I think. It's been a few weeks. I've been busy and Susan had a conference so it's been hard to schedule something. We are back on for this Thursday so Punga can get a wheel built and we can go over all of the wrong ways to build a wheel. It will probably be longer than my 1/2hr wheel builds...

Bike setup has been a huge thing for me. Whenever I build a new bike (for myself or whoever) I always go over a lot of ergonomic issues in terms of control setup, saddle choice, travel front/rear, shock/fork pressure and bar choice. I think it makes a big difference when you are on the bike, especially if you are trying to be competitive. Competitive for me just means that you want to go as fast as you can with the lungs and legs you have. I don't work with very many pros (only a few) so my experience is with people who just love to ride. It's the best bunch of people to work with, if you ask me. It's helped to keep me in this industry for a long time...

I've been getting great support and feedback from the guys (yes, it's been guys) who have been showing up. I get a lot of personal satisfaction from sharing stuff that has made me a better, more comfortable rider. I like to be reminded that I haven't wasted 14 yrs in the bike business.

Here's the new CB sticker. It's a bit stretched north to south, but you get the point. They are about 6" across and have a special anti-UV thing added so they won't fade, same as the one on the right. The small one has been on the car for a few years and it's still looking new. That's on the fairing for the roof rack, if you can't tell, so it gets some abuse in the wind and bugs.

And finally, while the boy was downstairs playing with Emma, he found something by the washing machine. Here's a caption for ya: 'I will crush you with my giant hands!' Enjoy. How about one from the Pee-Wee Herman Show: 'There's something I've wanted to do with these for a long time.'

Kids: mine and Canadian ones...

I got an email from Doug from Sprockids. If you haven't heard about it, go learn now. Reason #528 I should have been born a Canadian... They had one of their events this past weekend so go check it out. There are a few programs like this in the US now, modeled after Doug's program. Ok, I was holding out, here's the coolest link for them. Damn.

Here's a cute kid.

And here's another...

Bike to Work Day and Patapsco

Today was/is Bike to Work Day. The culmination of Bike Month and Bike to Work Week. Check with the League for more details. Check with WABA and Gwadz for pics from DC's event. City Bikes has always gone WAY overboard to support this event. It's our bread and butter. We always get a bunch of staff downtown and give away some bikes. It goes well. It's fun. It didn't rain this year. Last year I got wet and this year I had too much work to do (for City Bikes) to go all the way downtown. Also, I had a meeting at Patapsco. This is a pic of MY bike to work day with Emma and Jeremy. It's the same every day...

As some of you know, there has been some pirate trail activity out in Patapsco on the Landing Rd side of the park. A bunch of half-assed jumps, log rides and small doubles popped up around 7-8 months ago. I'm not dissing the construction... half-assed is still half an ass. I ride it all the time and enjoy it, it's just built pretty square with most drops to flat. Here's a bunch of pics... #1 is berm 1 to drop 3 and 4 from Norris Ln. #2 is Dan giving some perspective to the 3.5 footer right before the gap over the small stream. The last pic is Dan standing in the 7' log to log gap at the top of the opposite side of the trail.

We had a meeting with park staff today regarding the 'future' of that section of trail. It was built 100% illegally and basically, we (me, Eric, Jeff and Dan) all support the park doing what they have to do. I won't speak for MORE, but that's what us smart dudes believe... Anyway, we walked through the trails with the head honcho at the park and the friendly neighborhood trail crew today. We (MORE, I guess) suggested that we leave the stuff up and start planning for a new section of the park that would be specific for dirt jumping, drops, skinnies, etc. Basically, it would be a skill area for fun stuff. It's hard to know what to expect from the park, but, luckily Mr Honcho was on board!

We stressed that we DO NOT condone this type of rouge trail building and would be happy to help tear it down once the new stuff was close to or under construction.

So, ride Lewis and Clarke and thank me, Dan, Eric, Jeff and MORE for keeping it open for the near future AND for the start of the planning process for a rad section of super-fun skills stuff.

So, this is an un-official announcement that we will start building a jump park-style place at Patapsco. No idea exactly when (within a year and a half?) or where (in the park somewhere) but we have the beginnings of a project here.

After the meeting, I talked Eric into coming back to my place (hubba hubba) and helping me out with Bill Murray. I pulled him into the opening of the trail at full-tilt and he almost ate it. Briefly, you are hauling along a paved sidewalk and you make a left down a 6' embankment at 20mph into a tunnel in the trees and make a soft left up onto a 10' high embankment (soon to be step up). He was laughing his arse off. That got him to stick around and help me dig the bench cut into the slope for a solid hour. We walked the trail and looked at a few line options through the beech trees. There's more work to do on the first section of trail, but it's pretty rad and fun right now. It's worth the 1 mile pedal over there just for the drop in. I really appreciate the sweat. I paid him back by taking him on a quick urban singletrack session (read: golf course riding) with lots of high-speed turns and a few jumps. Oh, and I let him ride the carbon fsr bike. I guess that's OK, eh?

So, to sum up: everyday is bike to work day for me and the kids, Lewis and Clarke at Patapsco is open for now, we have support from Mr Honcho at the park for a superfun skills area with dirt jumps and drops and Eric is a good guy.

That was a good day.

Bill Murray

I'm naming some new trail. I won't go into detail about where it is or when it will be done, but rest assured, Bill Murray is under construction. The entrance is open and complete: there's a nice paved run that rolls into a g-out for the entry then a fast, open left hander into the woods at max speed. There will be a 3 foot gap, 2 ft vert step-up and then a four foot gap to transition left-hander in the first 50 ft of trail. All contour, all narrow, all in the trees, all less than a mile from my house. I managed to get out there and eat lunch and do a little digging today.

I sat out in a rain storm. A big thunderstorm blew through today and I was too far from home to bolt so I just leaned against a tree and took in the view. It was beautiful. I had G Love rocking on the mp3 player and the thunder was LOUD. I watched the rain flit off of the leaves and the bike caught a few drops. It rained HARD. After about 15 minutes, it blew through and the steam rose from the pavement and it dried itself out. It was rad. I loves me some nature.

The total mileage will be around 1.5. I should be able to squeeze some contours for some nice natural side-hill doubles/grade reversals. If the first section is any indication of how I can lay out the rest of the trail, this one should be pretty fun. It's basically a singletrack pump track. Single direction although we'll see how it plays out. That first step-up would be pretty fun going the other way. We'll see if I can pull it off.

I'll let you all know when the first official diggin' day happens so you can get clued in. I'll make sure there are some sections to clean before asking for help. Oh yeah, and it's all legal!

I'll get out there and shoot some pics in the next few days. Check back.

More bikes and riding

It seems like everybody had a GREAT time at Lodi last weekend. Everyone has been talking about it. It's great that we had a dry course.

This week, I managed to hook up with the AirlineRide guys for the final leg of the trip into DC. I had to skip out at the Capitol but it was great to see Tom, his bothers, sister and son at the ride. The police were great. The DC moto cops REALLY enjoy moving traffic out of the way. It's something that they do ALL THE TIME for POTUS and other dignitaries. They may not be able to solve murders, but they can control some traffic.

We owned Connecticut Ave all the way down to Mass Ave. Here's the traffic-free beauty that we'll see more of when gas hits $10 a gallon!

It's really weird how small this world is. I ran into Paul who was the mechanic on the AirlineRide ride. Paul is an instructor with the League of American Bicyclists (where I was the Program Director in a former life). We had a great conversation the whole way downtown. Here's a shot of Tom and Paul down at the Airline Pilots Association on Mass Ave.

There's a good shot of the Jamis bikes that these poor guys got to ride across the country. They were all planning on riding their own bikes but Jamis came through with some Xenith Team bikes. Can you imagine showing up for a ride across the country with a BRAND NEW dura ace full-carbon ksyrium es bike? These guys were glowing when I talked to them in AZ. They had done a few 160m days (!) and could not shut up about how nice the bikes were.

I'd love to have one of these suckers, for sure! 16lb comfort/speed machine. Yeah, I could handle it...

I got a call from my buddy Scud on Thursday afternoon. He needed some coverage for the IMBA Congressional bike ride at Riverbend on Friday. I managed to scramble my schedule (and Susan's plans for heading to PA with Emma) and Blaze and I cruised out there for the event. They do this ride every month with Congressional staffers and Executive branch people. We rode around Riverbend and took some people mountain biking for the first time. It was great to re-experience all of the feelings that people get when they ride their first narrow trail and ride over that first log. It was fun.

Susan and Emma are in PA this weekend with Susan's mom and grandma. They are taking Emma on her first horseback ride. We have arranged for some photos (of course). I wish I was there. I'm glad that Emma and her mom are bonding. It's something that Susan really enjoys and never gets to do. There are a lot of horses around here so maybe we can get the two of them into some riding together. I'll stick to the two-wheeled carbon horse with disc brakes.

Blaze and I managed to hit the Lewis and Clarke trail for an hour on my new bike. The SX trail, with all of its weight, was fan-freaking-tastic on those things. I couldn't go fast enough to really feel good on that thing, which is weird. I'm loving that coil spring for dropping out of the air. It rides pretty good with that Propedal stuff dialed up and really rolls right through anything that sticks up out of the ground. That and those super-durable, dual-ply tires (at 18psi) stick to everything. Thumbs up. I'll be racing that thing soon enough. It might really hurt but you only live once so try and do whatever you can to come close to shortening it...

MAC Series Schedule

DH Races sponsored by City Bikes...

2006 MAC Schedule
Freeland , Md. February 19, 2005 . Racer’s Edge Inc. is pleased to announce the third annual NORBA Mid-Atlantic Cup. One of the fastest growing gravity series’ in the east, the MAC has become known for providing some of the best courses and for challenging riders of all skill levels. New venues have been added and will certainly spice up the flavor of the entire series.

The 2006 season will deliver a huge increase in participation as the fastest riders in the east gun it out for the cup. To date, the series promises to deliver over $40,000 in cash and product and that number is still growing. Pros will compete for a guaranteed first place prize of at least $500.00 and, for the first time, cash will be up for grabs to the fastest expert riders.

Series dates are as follows and may be subject to change:

#1 Va. State Championships Massanutten, Va. May 12-13

#2 Inaugural Capital Cup Whitetail resort June 23-25

#3 Pa. State Championship Blue Knob, Pa. July 15-16

#4 Series Finals Bear Creek Resort, Pa. Sept 16-17

Stay tuned to RacersEdgeOnline.com for more info as it becomes available.

Larry

Lodi Report: City Bikes Rocks!

Short version: City Bikes riders ROCKED the 12 hrs of Lodi Farms! First place duo clydesdale (singlespeed) Joel Gwadz, first place solo singlespeeder RickyD (10 laps!), first place sport 3man team, Scardaville and MattyD, second place sport 3 man was me, Kent and DmofoT, 3rd place Expert 3 man (after racing Poolesville!) Evan, Chris and Eric!

WOOHOO! Not only that, but the City Bikes Team Truck was put into service at 4am powering the start/finish area after their generator crapped out. That gen ran from 5:30pm on Sat until 3pm on Sunday without a single problem. Whoa. DT and I rolled the big truck down to the race with the laptop on the dash, pumping through the home stereo that I hooked up in the truck off the generator. DT pulled his 80g hard drive in and we had over 90g of music for the ride down. I forgot the grill, but we had 4 straight hours of Misfits! We managed to get the truck up to 55mph! Rock on. The truck really pulled through. DT and I lived in it and everybody managed to find some time to hang out. DT slept on the floor and I bunked on one of the carpeted shelves. With Kent pulling opening duties, I had two hours to hunker down and rest while DT had 4 hours to sleep. More on the race below...

MattyD and Scardaville's team named themselves 'Not Klasmeier's Team City Bikes' after they misread my email and replaced me... Bastards. I saw their registration and we went with 'Klasmeier's Team City Bikes,' just to be contrarian. They beat us by 11minutes.

We started in first with Kent rocking 2 hours for two laps plus the 1/2 mile Le Mans start. I managed to run through 2 laps in just short of two hours (57 min avg) and DT proceeded to have two bad laps with a broken helmet, backflip, broken light, etc. He had all of our team's problems. That was nice of him, eh? We managed to get back in first place after I hunted and passed Scardaville (never thought that would happen), closing a 2.5 minute gap and putting 30 seconds back into them. DT got passes by Jonathan and he put in a SOLID 53min lap, putting us about 15 minutes back. Kent and I doubled up on the last laps pulling in sub-hour laps and cutting their lead to 11 minutes by the end of the race. I went out at 11:50ish for our last lap so that we could end with 13 laps, same as 'Not Klasmeier's Team City Bikes.' I stopped Kent and told him to hang back until noon, that we had 2nd place sewn up, but he was on FIRE and quickly stoked me into riding our 13th lap, which I did as hard as I could, sprinting into the finish line in the big ring (as I did all of my laps).

We all had a great time battling it out with our good buddies and camp-mates. We got to talk a lot of trash, strategize... It was a lot of fun. Third place was about 30-40min back so we didn't have to even go out for that last lap, and let me tell you, I didn't want to. Of course, I was glad that I did.

This is the best I've felt on a bike in years. Not since pre-marriage/fatherhood have I been this strong. I'm still behind my peak speed/power, but it's amazing that I've been able to power up this year. I'm not getting any younger, for sure. This year is my 32nd birthday so I'm pretty happy with where I am. Putting in 5 8.5m laps, all within a few minutes of each other is pretty rad.

Big shout-out to Team BikeWorks for putting on a great, friendly race. And thanks to everybody down there for keeping the land open and the trails tight. That course is the great equalizer. There's really nowhere to open it up, you just have to stay on the gas the whole time. Transitions are key. You have to power out of the turns (they are tight) and keep your speed up whenever the trail points down. The bridges are great but they make some people nervous. If you've never done it, you should. It's fun and challenging.

Dt, Kent (fruitcake) and Evan made the pics. Volunteers and a blurry shot of the start also included.

I'll go through the few photos that I have and get some more posted up here. I need to get Larry's picture up. Camp and I first raced against each other here about 6-7 years ago. We both raced solo (me single, him geared) and we had an 'I'm passing' conversation during the night that we both remember. He hasn't raced here since then but we managed to be out there again this year. Larry is a great guy, fast as Hell, and, I'm not afraid to say, a damn good-looking man! Way to go Larry! (Call me).

See you all soon. I'm hoping to hit the Massanutten DH race this weekend for a little change of pace. We'll see how it goes.

Race, bikes and ROAM

I didn't even mention that we got some advanced copies of the ROAM dvd from the people at the Collective. It's good. I have to say that the first one was better (maybe I need to watch them both again, back to back!) but the music in ROAM was a bit more adult. I need to get both soundtracks... I think we should schedule a viewing somewhere. We watched it at Buffalo Billiards last Tuesday but it wasn't on the BIG screen (60"). I'll try to set something up and let everyone know.

This weekend is the 12 hours of Lodi Farms and a bunch of us are racing. I've got DT and Kent on my team which means we should do well. I'm taking the big City Bikes truck down with the generator and huge Team Grill for eats. It should be fun. We'll have about 15 people down there for hanging out, racing, support, etc. I'm going to try to stay awake (ha!) and take some pictures.

I've got a new bike coming, too! I know what you are thinking... Actually, I don't because I can't wait to race this thing. Spec'd SX Trail. I'll be racing that sucker at some DH and 4x races this year (if I can fit it into the xc/endurance racing schedule). This will also give me an excuse to get up to Fredneck more and ride with Mike and Hillary more, especially since they have some new bikes on the way as well. Mike is involved with putting on the City Bikes Capital Cup at Whitetail. That's June 23-25 and one price gets you on the lifts all weekend plus racing if you want. There's a SuperD course, a true DH course (high consequence) and a 4x course (I think). Where there's not a race, the course is open. It's really important that we get a lot of people out there to support this venue. We really don't have a lot going on for official DH/FR/DJ places around so it would be nice if we could get Whitetail opened again. It's as simple as $$. If Whitetail can't pay the bills to open the place up in the Summer, they won't. So dust off the armor, bolt on that coil spring and get the f out there.

See you this weekend. Hit me with questions. We have a meeting with Patapsco regarding the Lewis and Clark/Jump Trail off Landing Rd. If you have suggestions, you better send 'em over right quick. We need your help.

Greenbriar Pics

I didn't see any briars of any color out there but whatever...

Greenbriar

10th place. Not bad. I managed to big ring the first climb and stay around 8th. I got bunged up by some goofy road guys on the technical sections (where I excel). I'm stoked. Results here.

Now, let's see how the rest of the season goes. I'll get some pics from Joel, if he has 'em.